Use of Partially Non-Catalyzed Ethanolyzed Palm Fatty Acid Distillate as Diesel/Diesohol Extenders

Abstract

This work studied the preparation of partially esterified palm fatty acid distillate (PEPFAD) by non-catalyzed to use as diesel/diesohol extenders. In this article, PEPFAD was prepared by reacting of palm fatty acid distillate containing high free fatty acids (≥90 wt.%) with anhydrous ethanol (AhE) in a batch reactor at molar ratio of 1:1, temperature of 289°C, and pressure of 72 bar for 60 min. The obtained final product of PEPFAD mainly contained ethyl esters of 71.6 wt.% and free fatty acids of 26.8 wt.% with other remaining constitutes of 1.6 wt.%. The important studied results of long-term phase behavior of blended fuels kept at room temperature for 90 days found that the product was able to be blended with commercial high speed diesel (CHSD) as binary liquid CHSD-PEPFAD blends up to the maximum portion of 40 wt.% and as disohol of ternary liquid CHSD-PEPFAD-AhE blends up to the maximum portion of 80 wt.%. However, as further considering based on the tested results of important fluidity and cold flow properties, it was found that two formulae of the blends were interested for using as the alternative diesel including PEPFAD30 and PEPFAD50AhE10, the number following PEPFAD and AhE is the blending portion of wt.% with diesel. For preliminary utilization test compared with diesel on a test bench, a single-cylinder diesel engine model KUBOTA RT100 DI PLUS was used for testing under varying loads in the range of 1.28 to 6.40 kW at the constant high engine speed of 2200 rpm. It was found that both blends of interest were able to well operate the test engine as same as diesel with similar or slightly higher brake specific fuel comsumption and brake thermal efficiency.